In this conversational interview, former NBA player and Miami Heat scout Tim Hardaway Sr. recounts how he advocated for drafting Draymond Green, describing Green as a perfect fit for the Heat’s culture and defensive mindset. He explains that despite his recommendation, the Heat chose Arnett Moultrie, a player he characterizes as having significant character red flags. Draymond Green reflects on how he could have complemented the LeBron‑James, D‑Wayne Wade, and Chris Bosh era, offering low‑salary, high‑energy defense. The dialogue shifts to on‑court anecdotes—dunk battles, charge taking, and the physical nature of past NBA eras—highlighted by stories of being dunked on by James Harden and a memorable elbow incident. A third participant, Speaker B, expands the conversation to discuss the changing hierarchy of the NBA, noting that modern superstars avoid direct physical confrontations. The interview concludes with Hardaway reminiscing about the toughness of 1990s‑early‑2000s guards such as Kevin Johnson, Gary Payton, Rod Strickland, and Terry Porter, emphasizing the relentless nightly competition of that era compared to today’s more relaxed environment.
Chapters
I'm gonna tell you a story. So I'm with the Miami Heat. I'm a scout for the Miami Heat. I come and see, you know, I was always at the Big Ten games, especially, you know, 'cause of Tim and all that. I'm writing you up. I'm like, this is Miami Heat culture right here. I say Draymond Green is Miami Heat culture. "We need to draft him. We need to draft him. Dude, he gonna come in, he knows how to play, he gonna play his role, he gonna play defense, he gonna give everybody confidence. This dude can play the game of basketball." Yeah. And Pat was like, "I don't want him." I said, "Why?" He never gave me a reason. So every time you came to Miami to go to State Warriors, And y'all beat us there. Me and Pat look at each other and he said, he said, he said, he looked at me, he said, "You bet not say that." You know, he not saying it loud. "You bet not." He kept looking at me. I was like, "I told you so." Right. And he be like, I said, I said, "If we would've had him," And just his presence in the game and knowing the game. I'm, I'm not saying it would have been like this, but we could have won 3 in a row with LeBron. I'm talking about with LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh. I, I, I, I feel comfortable with you being on that team coming in and doing what you're supposed to do, because you was the type of Heat player that they needed. We should have— yeah, that we need.
I appreciate that. I appreciate that. You know what's crazy, OG, is I— is Miami was one of the teams that I thought was— would be really high on me during the draft. And you know, I'm sliding in the draft.
Yeah, and I was in that green room. I was in the green room.
I was like It, you know, it really baffled me to see the Miami Heat draft Arnett Moultrie because I'm like, draft Arnett Moultrie? Like this dude had all type of character red flags when we was coming out in the draft. And you know, he was, the upside of him as a player was insane, but he had all type of character. Issue red flags. And I'm like, they gonna draft this guy, but they talk about all of the character stuff and how you gotta be a high character guy to play in Miami and leave me sitting right here. And I would watch those teams, those Miami teams with Bron and be like, yeah, and D-Wade and Bosh and be like, I would've fit right in there. Like I could've brought exactly what that team needed.
Yeah.
On a low salary because I was low.
Energy.
I would've been a low pick in the first round.
Energy.
I could've brought with that team neither. I agree. I felt that way. And to see Arnett Moultrie get drafted there and have character issues, I was immediately like, oh, they not about what they talk, what they say they about. They say they about this character and that and Heat guys. They not about what they say they about. I'm sorry to do this, but do you remember when BD dunked on you?
Yeah. Everybody get dunked on. I tell everybody that. Everybody get dunked on. Yeah, I remember that.
Shot blockers get dunked on, not point guards. Shot blockers get talked about.
I went for it. I thought I could get it, you know. I thought I could jump a little bit higher, you know. You know you in the game, baby. You in the game. You know you're doing the drill at some point, you know. Hey, hey. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, hey. Fuck, father.
Nah, it happens, man. It happens. You know, it happens. You know, that was the elbow. He remembered the elbow.
Yeah, that part.
He got you back. I thought you slipped.
He walked away like, ah, I was gonna get him back for that elbow.
I thought he slipped it.
You didn't catch me slipping. You didn't catch me slipping. I thought I could get it. You know, hey, my leaps wasn't as high as yours.
Oh, I'm crying. Happens to the best of us, man. I got some bad ones too. I got some real bad ones. James Harden dunked on me so bad I pushed him down.
I tell everybody. Everybody gonna get dunked on. Everybody gonna shoot an air ball. Everybody gonna shoot a brick. Everybody gonna turn the ball over. That's basketball. Everybody gonna get shook. Everybody gonna get shook. That's a fact.
But the thing is, people nowadays are afraid of that. So you don't have moments where it's, you know, a changing of the guards, right? To that hierarchy. Like, damn, this dude been bullying me. We ain't got past the playoffs 'cause I gotta overcome Draymond and whatever he think he got psychologically against me. That's always been the pecking order and the pedigree of the NBA. And nowadays—
That's right.
Guys are running away from the real thing. Like you don't see superstars challenging each other, right? They guard the other dude on the team, right? So they running from the charge, you know, or they coming in to take a charge, 7 foot. I used to hate when big dudes take charges.
I used to cuss big dudes out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What you taking a charge for? You know what I mean?
Yep, yep. I'm gonna tell you a guy that don't get a lot of recognition that was a bad motherfucker. Kevin Johnson.
Oh my God.
All right, me and Kevin Johnson, when we played against each other, I guarantee you neither one of us got a full night's sleep because we knew what was going to go down the next day. We was going to go out there and we stuck each other. I'm not, you switch off on Dan. No, I'm getting over picks, I'm staying in front of him. Yeah, try to stay— I'm gonna try to stay in front of him. All right, I'm gonna try not to get crossed over, you know, left and right. I'm trying not to get dunked on, right? Because he will dunk on you, you know. You know, I know he couldn't make threes, you know. He started making threes at the end of his career and stuff like that. But I'm gonna tell you this, man, that was a bad motherfucker. That was a bad motherfucker. A lot of people A lot of people don't know how bad Kevin Johnson was. That motherfucker, man, he was tough. He was fucking tough. Gary Payton. Gary Payton. Shit, we used to go at each other. Shit, Rod Strickland. He didn't get enough credit. Man, we— Terry Porter.
Yes.
He had some motherfuckers in the West, man, that was— He had some dogs.
He had some dogs.
He had some straight dogs, man. A lot of people don't understand that, and we had to come with it every night, every fucking night. You know, now you probably take the day off, you know, I'm just going, it's going to be a cruise here, it's going to be a cruise there, shit. Not in the West, not back then. Right.
Yeah.
Right. Every night it was—
the only night off was really like the Clippers.
Well, you know, I'm not going to do that to my man Mar Jack. No, 'cause you know, Mark was there. Mark was there when I was with the Warriors, so he was there.
Okay.
You know? Okay. They was competitive. I'm gonna do that tomorrow.
They was competitive.
It's just nobody was there. They just couldn't finish.
Yeah, nobody was there. They had no crowd to get 'em over there, over the edge.
No, no, no. And they was playing at USC. They was playing at USC. I'm gonna tell you something, I'm gonna tell you something. USC back then, they court was so bad, man. So you had that, you didn't only have to have a slipknot, you had to have a wet towel.
A wet towel.
Yeah, a wet towel. So you get some grip on there. Every time motherfuckers used to run past and get they, on they foot on the wet towel so they can get some grip.
